Thursday, March 14, 2013

Gustavo de Greiff is a lawyer, educator and activist who
served as the first Attorney General of Colombia and former Colombian Ambassador
to Mexico.
He lost his position as Attorney General when he became an outspoken critic of
the United States' War on
Drugs in Colombia,
and for being an advocate for drug liberalization policies. The following is
excerpted and translated from his report, “The
Balance of a Failed Strategy,” which originally appeared in the Colegio
Mayor de Nuestra Senora del
Rosario Magazine, Vol. 106, No. 603 in 2011. Follow the link to read the
complete report (Spanish). A summary in English follows the tables.

Global drug consumption
(in millions of users)

Drug

1997

2008

Cocaine

14

15-19.3

Heroin

8

11.3

Marijuana

141

190.7

Drug consumption by
region (in millions of users)

Drug

1997

U.S. E.U

2008

U.S. E.U.

Cocaine

7

2

6.2

4.1

Heroin

2

1.1

5.8

4.1

Marijuana

22.2

18.7

29.25

22.5

”Consumed” refers to people
between the ages of 5 and 65 that reported using the drug at least once in the
reported year. Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2010.

Global drug
production (in metric tons)

Drug

1997

2008

Cocaine

863

865

Heroin

435

657

Marijuana

20,000-30,000

13,300-66,100 (2009)

Source: United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2009

Global drug
production prices (price per gram for purchases less than 2 grams)

Drug

1997

U.S. E.U.

2009

U.S. E.U.

Cocaine

$161.23

€113

$80.40

€44-88

Heroin

$528.72

€117

$364.01

€14-129

Marijuana

$8.21

€3-12

$10.91

€3-10

As far as price goes, there is no universal data but the
information from the United
States and European Union exemplify the
failure of prohibitionist policy, which, I repeat, had the purpose of making
drugs more expensive and thereby leading to a decrease in the number of
consumers. To examine the statistics one
should keep in mind that during the studied period the potency of the three
drugs included in the study increased considerably, while their price
decreased. One would think that the
increased potency of drugs would result in an increase in price and a decrease
in the volume produced and consumed, but, as can be seen, this has not occurred , except for the price of
marijuana in North America because the illicit nature of the business makes it
so that it does not always function within the logic of licit business.

…From the perspective of demand, [these figures] indicate
that prohibitionist policy has failed in its intent to reduce consumption of
psychoactive drugs, and, on the contrary, prohibition has given rise to
unexpected consequences: organized crime, corruption between governmental
agents who, in one form or another, close their eyes to permit the traffic of
prohibited substances, rural and urban violence, the violation of the
sovereignty of the countries where narcotics are produced; also, the
destruction of families, lives lost in prison, degraded cities, etc.

…Evident as it is that the prohibitionist strategy has
failed, one should ask, “Why is it that the strategy of legalization, or
rather, the strategy of regulation as has been outlined, not been implemented
by any Latin American country?” It seems to me that in the first place, it is
due to a lack of civic courage on the part of governments. None have dared even
propose it for fear of incurring the bad favor of the United States government;
disfavor that tends to be coupled with punitive measures, such as commercial restrictions,
the closing of financing sources, outright or concealed intervention in
internal matters, the revoking of visas and many other inventions that the
powerful find easily at hand. Secondly,
because this lack of civic valor has been reinforced by generalized fear in
public opinion and exploited by politicians terrified of being accused of being
“soft” on crime—which, the thinking goes, would increase in a regulated
[legalized] environment along with consumption.* In the third, no less important
place, there is the resolve of bureaucrats whose very jobs depend on continuing
the War on Drugs.

*Science and experience show is that this is not true. Politicians who advocate for prohibition and
the governments they serve tend to argue that the existence of trade agreements
and international conventions that oblige nations to combat psychoactive drugs
through the criminalization of production, trade and consumption, conveniently
forgetting that these conventions and trade agreements can be denounced and
modified.

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